Cassie's Point of View
by missmeyet
Summary: Cassie is at the cottage with Sam, Mom, and Uncle Jack. Three of them head off to town and meet up with a surprise visitor there. Set in Season 2, no spoilers.


Cassie's Point Of View

We were up at Uncle Jack's cabin on a week's leave (well the three adults were on leave, and so decided that my long weekend should extend for the same week, because I have a cool family who like bonding, or something like that. Really, it's not that often that everybody is on the same planet, so it's good to spend time together … not that I can say that to the kids at school, of course). It had been pretty normal – the bugs buzzing, no fish in the lake, not a sound of 'civilization' to be heard. It was nice and quiet. A bit too quiet … as in rapidly approaching the point of boredom. We (Mom, Sam, Uncle Jack and I) had been having fun pretending to fish (me and Uncle Jack) and going for long walks (Mom and Uncle Jack) and working on puzzles and playing chess (me and Sam, of course), playing cards (I know Uncle Jack and Sam both cheat so that Mom and I can win, but we let them think that they're being clever about it) and the like for almost three days. It had rained all morning, so once it let up, Mom decided that she wanted to head into town to pick up some food for dinner. (She made some crack about not needing to if we had ever actually _caught _a fish, but she must not have meant it, because even **I **know that there aren't any fish in that lake!) I really wanted to go back to the neat candy shop Uncle Jack had shown me the last time we came up here together – you could get these red squishy things that were supposed to look like berries, but were sweet and gooey and must be really bad for me because Uncle Jack told me not to tell Mom that he let me have his bag when I had finished mine, all for a quarter! So cool … Sam tried really hard to convince me to stay at the cabin with her, which started to make me suspicious that Mom and Uncle Jack had something fun planned, so I dug in my heels and insisted on wanting to go to the candy store! Sam finally said she'd stay behind by herself to 'guard the cabin', and Uncle Jack drove the three of us into town. By the time we were halfway there, I felt really bad about barging in on whatever it was that Mom and Uncle Jack had planned – it probably would have been more fun to stay behind with Sam anyway – but it was too late to ask to go back. Besides, then I'd have to admit that I was being selfish, and Mom hates that particular trait in anybody, but especially me. I was tired of thinking about how I had screwed up again though, and instead asked Mom to turn on the radio. She turned that dial over and over again, and couldn't get anything more exciting than static. Weird. She apologised, like it was her fault. That's one of the reasons I love my mom – she always tries to make me feel better, even when I'm feeling lousy for something I started. We didn't pass anyone on the way in, but then again, that's pretty normal. Uncle Jack said there was probably a ball game on or something, and that's why everybody was inside. The town looked kind of creepy as we drove through though, with no one in sight. All the houses looked empty, and there were no kids on the playground. Of course, they were probably in school, it being a weekday, I reminded myself. Not everybody had vacation right now. Still – the town felt … well, dead. It reminded me a lot of Hanka after Nirriti's disease swept through. Nothing moving except the wind. Uncle Jack must have seen it all over my face, because as soon as he parked the truck, he turned around and looked me straight in the eye.

"Don't even go there, munchkin," he warned. I gulped.

"Go where, Uncle Jack?" I asked, trying to look as innocent as I possibly could.

"This is just a coincidence. There's an important ball game or a presidential inauguration that we're missing, or something like that." I nodded.

"Whatever you say, Uncle Jack." I agreed. Apparently I didn't sound convincing enough, because he and Mom exchanged one of _those_ glances – you know, the ones where they talk without using any words at all. Mom tried this time.

"Honey," she started, but I cut her off.

"Look, okay, it's creepy with no one around, but I'm not going to go mental! I'm okay, okay? Just leave me alone!" I hated when they started babying me, especially when they guessed exactly what was going through my head on the button. They exchanged another one of _those_ glances.

"Fine," Mom stated. Uh-oh. I think I'm really in trouble now… She opened her mouth and then shut it again. It's **never** a good sign when Mom's rethinking what she's going to say in the middle of saying it – that usually means that whatever she wants to say is bad. I seem to be getting that reaction a lot lately … Sam says it has something to do with my hormones kicking in, whatever that means. I just know that recently I don't seem to be able to do or say much of anything without pissing Mom off. I noticed Uncle Jack touch her arm – he's been doing that a lot recently, too, come to think about it – and she shook her head and gave a little smile. "Fine, baby. Go get yourself some candy. Jack and I are going to the butchers and the bakers, so we can have a nice barbeque tonight, okay?" I know a peace offering when I hear one – whatever Uncle Jack had said in those looks must have been good!

"Thanks Mom." I grinned at Uncle Jack. "Did you want some stuff too?" He grinned back and swatted at my behind.

"Go rot your teeth, short-stuff," he chuckled, then knelt down and handed me a dollar. "Although if they've got some fresh Juicy Fruit…" I grinned back and gave him a mock salute.

"Yes sir!" I returned, and started out towards the candy shop. I turned in time to catch Mom giving him heck.

"Juicy Fruit, Jack? Is there something we're gonna need to talk about?" He shrugged.

"What? It's for Teal'c. No, really. Big T's got a soft spot for Juicy Fruit! What? Sheesh… try to do a buddy a favour…" He stopped grumbling and started laughing instead when Mom punched him in the arm. Of course, then she had to punch him again. Not that they thought I was looking, of course.

I wasn't worried about them fighting. This kind of fighting was the stuff my parents did on Hanka all the time. Not about Juicy Fruit, obviously, but still … my mom there had told me it was her way of telling my dad that she loved him. It didn't make any sense to me then, and after a year and a half on Earth, it still didn't make any sense to me now. But hey, it worked for my parents back there, and it seemed to be working for Mom and Uncle Jack, so I was happy. Actually, just having Uncle Jack around seems to make Mom happier, which in turn, makes me happy. A happy Mom means less yelling at Cassie, and that's got to be a good thing. Uncle Jack keeps telling her to loosen up a bit, because I won't break. At which point Mom usually shoots him one of her special looks, and he gets all sheepish, and says that if I do manage to break, she of all people will be able to fix me up as good as new, and then she forgives him, and seems to forget about whatever it was that I was doing that got her annoyed in the first place. I really love having Uncle Jack around! Sam had asked me a little while ago how I felt about having Uncle Jack spend so much time with me and Mom, and I told her that I really liked him – he's a totally cool guy. And so did Mom, although I'm pretty sure that she likes him in a different kind of way. But if he ever hurt her, I'd kill him. Sam had really liked that answer – she told me that I had the right spirit. I haven't quite figured out what that means, but it sounded like a good thing, the way Sam said it. I told her I really liked having her around too. She asked if the same rules applied to her, and I said definitely, though she wasn't nearly as stupid as a boy (even though Uncle Jack is older than Mom and totally cool, he _still_ counts as a silly boy), so I didn't need worry about her ever hurting Mom, so it was a moot point. She seemed to think that was an okay answer too.

I didn't see anybody on the walk to the candy shop. I couldn't even hear Mom and Uncle Jack talking anymore. The birds weren't singing, the crickets weren't chirping – there wasn't even a cat or dog in sight. As much as I had argued that this wasn't going to make me wig out back at the truck, I was starting to get seriously jumpy. By the time I had made it to the candy shop, and pushed open the door, I would have cried to see _anybody_, even that slimy Dominic Montague from down the street. Well okay, I would have been really startled to see Dom, because we were a long way away from Colorado Springs, but still! The candy shop had a set of those swinging doors, like you see on the saloons in the old Western movies. They creaked when I pushed them, and it sounded like someone screaming. Well, quieter but still totally out of place and very much adding to the creepy factor.

"Hello?" I whispered into the store. No one replied. "Hel-lo?" I tried again, my voice cracking in the dry heat. Still no reply. I decided to walk all the way into the store – somehow, it felt … safer. It looked like no one had cleaned in a couple of days – there was dust everywhere, and one of the canisters that held the hard liquorice sticks had been dropped on the floor. Okay, now I was starting to get seriously creeped out. There was a back door that led to where the owner lived with his family – I knew that, because I had asked the last time Uncle Jack brought me in here to visit. It was opened just a little, so I figured it would be okay to look in there – I mean, I wasn't actually opening the door, just opening it a little bit further. I could hear Mom in the back of my head saying something about 'semantics', whatever those were. I shook my head to make that annoying voice of conscience go away, looked around again to see if anyone had miraculously appeared, and reached for the door. I expected the door to creak, like the front door had done, and give me away. Really I expected the family to burst out from underneath the counter, yelling at me for trying to break into their home. Neither happened. The door swung smoothly open. I wasn't about to walk in – that would be trespassing – but I could see a comfy chair and couch set up by a television in the first room, and part of the kitchen table set up in the room beyond. The television was on, but it must have been set to channel one, because there was no sound or picture, just fuzz on the screen. What I could see of the table looked like it was set for a meal. And there was absolutely no one in sight. Okay, now I was officially weirded out. I wanted my Mom, and Uncle Jack, NOW! I backed away from the door and turned to run out of the shop, knocking over another glass canister on my way by. It hit the ground and shattered as I reached the front swinging doors. The crash sounded loud enough to wake the dead, and I froze, half expecting someone – or some_thing?_ – to appear. I could hear my heart beating frantically in my chest, and tried to make it slow down enough so that I would be able to hear if anything else was coming. There was nothing. No sound from inside or out. I shot outside, and looked up and down the street – nothing stirred. Where had Mom said her and Uncle Jack were going? I tried desperately to remember – think, Cassie, think!!! Oh right, we needed stuff for the barbecue tonight, so meat and buns. That means the butcher and the baker. For some reason, I really, really, didn't want to try the butcher's store by myself … just the thought of all those animal corpses hanging in the windows, and those sharp steel knives – that place made me feel uncomfy even when there were tons of people around! So … off to the baker's store first then! I remember the baker's was beside the barbershop, because Uncle Jack sent me over to pick up some gingerbread cookies when he stopped in to get a trim last time. That was over towards the church, so I should head for the spire. As much as I wanted to run, I figured it would be best to not look like I was in a dead panic, just in case I simply had a case of the heeby-jeebies, as Uncle Jack so eloquently put them – I'm pretty sure he meant suffering from irrational fear. Earth sure does have some interesting terms for things. I shook my head – definitely _not_ the time to be thinking about random comparative vocabularies.

I didn't pass a single person on the way to the baker's shop, although I did pass something that struck me as a tad odd – a red pickup truck had crashed into a fire hydrant on one of the corners, but there was nobody inside. The water wasn't gushing up like it does in the movies, but was just trickling down a muddy patch of the road to the drain in the gutter. I was still pondering what that could mean when I turned the corner to reach the baker's shop, and stopped in my tracks. There had obviously been a fire, and a big one at that. The baker's was totally destroyed, and the barbershop next door hadn't fared much better. The striped pole was still turning – or at least, what was still left of it. Both buildings were smouldering, and the smell was really bad – burnt toast and melted plastic and something sweet that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I really hoped that no one had been in the building when it caught fire … then again, considering the fact that I had yet to see _anyone_ in this town, I was starting to seriously doubt that was actually much of a concern. It was weird that there wasn't a fire truck or anything about – then again, everything about this afternoon had been weird! I mean, we'd been in town for how long, and there hadn't been a single dog, or cat, or person? It was just so quiet…

"Cassie!" Uncle Jack's stage whisper from beside the church across the street made me jump. I whipped around. I could just make out Mom standing behind him, like he was shielding her from something, and he was making motions for me to be quiet. Like there was anyone around to hear me? I mean, c'mon… but sure, I could play that game. It's not like I really wanted to talk at the moment anyway. I looked around, but still didn't see any movement. I started to slowly walk towards Uncle Jack, darting my eyes in every direction. I don't know why, but I kept feeling as if someone was watching me. This trip to town had to be the creepiest experience of my life – on Earth so far, anyway. As I came closer, I could see that Uncle Jack had a large dark stain across the front of his tee-shirt. I decided that I probably didn't really want to know. I just wanted to go back to the cabin where we were safe. I was never, EVER going to ask to come to town again!

Mom ducked under Uncle Jack's arm to give me a huge bear hug. It looked like she had been crying.

"I was so worried about you, honey," she whispered in my ear.

"Why, Mom?" I wondered out loud. Okay, so the deserted town was beyond creepy, but still …

"Because you were my favourite, Cassandra," Mom's voice had changed, had taken on that vibrating sound of a Gao'uld. I gasped and broke free of her grasp. Mom looked up at me in shock.

"Cassie," Uncle Jack looked at me. "What the hell's the matter with you, kid? We've got to get back to the truck. We'll be safe back at the cabin." I looked from him to Mom, who just had this incredibly hurt expression on her face. Great, on top of hearing things, I just really hurt Mom. Beautiful Cass, just wonderful. I nodded to Uncle Jack.

"Sorry Mom, this place is just really weirding me out. Can we go back to the cabin, please?" She bit her bottom lip and nodded. The three of us began making our way quietly back to the truck. I was definitely going to have to make that one up to her somehow – I only have one official parent left, afterall. It's just that she sounded so much like–

CRACK. CRACK.

Uncle Jack dropped to the ground as two holes the size of nickels appeared in the back of his tee-shirt. Mom knocked me to the ground, and shielded me with herself. "Jack!" she called out, and received a groan as a response. Which was followed by the worst sound I can ever remember hearing – Nirriti's laughter. I looked around wildly from my squished position, but couldn't see much of anything. Suddenly there was a grunt, and Mom's weight was gone from above me. I rolled over to see Nirriti using some Gao'uld hand device to suspend Mom a few inches off the ground. From the look on Mom's face, it wasn't a fun experience.

"What … what do you … what the hell have you done?" I spurted out. Nirriti just grinned at me.

"Now Cassandra, you know I would never hurt you, dear," she grinned down at me. "You have always been my favourite, after all." She flicked a finger, and lines of electricity shot out towards Mom, who gasped in pain when they struck her.

"STOP!" I cried.

"Stop what, dear," Nirriti asked innocently, all the while shooting more of those crackling lines out at Mom.

"Stop hurting Mom," I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I refused to cry. Nirriti looked at me in shock.

"But why, Cassandra? I'm having fun," she actually pouted, like a spoiled child. "It's not like you'll miss them _that_ much," she continued. I looked at her in shock.

"That's my Mom! Of course I'll miss her!" I shouted in anger. How dare she… my fists were balled at my side, as I tried to figure out how to get out of this mess.

"Whatever do you mean, Cassandra? I mean, she didn't give birth to you – your mother on Hanka did that."

"Who you _also_ killed, along with my father, and my sister." I was really starting to seethe now.

"Whom, dear, not who. Really, the schooling on this planet must be as appalling as it was on Hanka."

"What?" She wanted to argue the rules of English grammar while Uncle Jack was bleeding on the ground and Mom was being tortured?

"Besides, you replaced them easily enough," she continued. "Your blood family has been gone what, a year now?"

"16 months and 4 days," I corrected her, "since you killed them, along with everyone else on my planet."

"Ah, so you're still keeping track. How cute," she replied. "You've already well moved onto your new family while pretending to mourn the first one." She rolled her eyes. "I had expected you to be stronger. Tut tut!" Nirriti glanced down at Jack, who had stopped moaning. She looked him over quietly, as if daring him to interrupt her. When he didn't so much as twitch a muscle, she turned her attention back to me. "As I have told you before, you're special to me, Cassandra. I have great things in store for you. This particular pair of humans are not … appropriate to prepare you for the future you must unfold. I am simply taking them out of the equation, so you can uncloud your judgement and take your proper place," she paused, and then continued, all the while staring directly at me, "by my side."

I stopped to take in what she had said. Had I really replaced my birth parents so easily? It hadn't seemed like I had much of a choice at the time – there was absolutely no one left on the planet, and I couldn't have cared for myself…

"I came back for you, you know," Nirriti continued, as if she could read my thoughts. "The Taur'i had already spirited you away to Earth. I've been beside myself trying to create a way to retrieve you to your rightful place." I looked at Mom, who was looking at me. Her eyes were pleading with me to shake loose of this spell Nirriti was weaving, to not believe what could only be a pack of lies. I hadn't known those eyes for very long, but I believed what I saw in them.

"You did not – you planted a bomb in my chest. You tried to use me as a weapon to destroy the Taur'i!" I accused Nirriti.

"That's what they told you, isn't it," she countered, shooting more beams of electricity towards Mom, causing her to close her eyes in pain and breaking our connection in the process. "You have no way of knowing that that wasn't just a lie, intended to make you sympathetic to their plans."

"And what plans would those have been, Nirriti," I replied, daring to get more cheeky, hoping to throw her off balance long enough to come up with some sort of a rescue plan – or better yet, to give the adults enough time to figure out how to put their own plan into use. "Galactic domination? Oh wait, that was you. I know, mass genocide – no, wait, that was you again. Oh, I've got it, genetic manipulations – drat – that was you again, wasn't it? Or maybe this could be the winner: they took in an orphan who happened to be an alien to boot, and are trying to raise her like their own, even though they don't have to by any stretch of the imagination? They're trying to replace the home that **you** stole from me." I shook my head. "Sorry Nirriti, but I'm just not seeing how that is in any way a more evil plot than what you have already done."

"You're the one who hit it on the head there, Cassandra," she nodded. "I always knew you were bright, dear. I'm proud of you. They are trying to replace your family – not the Hankans," she cut off my attempt to break in with the fact that it was she, not the humans, who had killed my family in the first place. "Those people weren't really your family at all – they were simply the slaves I used to care for you. They're trying to replace your true mother. These pathetic little Taur'i are trying to replace …" The horror of it hit me like a tonne of bricks. Her evil smile returned as she finished her thought, "me."

Nirriti as my "true" mother? No, it couldn't be real – my parents back home were just puppets for her? No, no, no! They loved me, and I loved them. Just like I loved my new family here. It couldn't be true – I refused to believe it. Nirriti was trying to do something bad, and I didn't know what, but I didn't really care either. All I knew for sure is that she kept taking away the people who loved me, and I wasn't going to let it happen again!

I could feel the scream begin from deep within me, the surge of adrenaline come crashing up from my toes. It wasn't true – I _hadn't_ replaced my family by choice. I _did_ miss them, and I wasn't going to let that Gao'uld woman steal another family from me either! I had been given a second chance with a new family who loved me, and I sure as heck wasn't going to let them go without a fight – everything started to take on a shade of red in my eyes. I jumped at Nirriti with a primal scream. "Nooooooooo!" I slammed into her, breaking her connection with Mom. Her hand swung around to my back, and I arched when the electricity shot through me. The pain was too much – I closed my eyes and screamed again.

"Honey, honey, it's okay," I could hear a soft voice trying to soothe me, while arms held me close. It had to be Nirriti playing another trick – I struggled as hard as I could to get free.

"Sweetie, it was just a nightmare," the voice continued. I could sense someone else approaching me, and lashed out a foot.

"Oof!" grunted Uncle Jack. "Quite a kick on that kid." I stopped struggling. How could I have just kicked a standing up Uncle Jack, when he was lying on the ground, bleeding to death?

"There we go," Mom's voice continued. "Always good to use Jack as a punching bag…" she loosened her grip on my arms and began to brush through my hair with her fingers. I could hear Uncle Jack muttering something as the springs in other bed in the room squeaked – he must have sat down. Which means I had to be in my room at the cabin, not on the deserted square of town, fighting with Nirriti. Which just didn't make much sense at all. Because I _know _that I was just there – I still had the knot in my throat at the thought of her taunts that my family was so replaceable. "C'mon, open up your eyes, Cass. You'll see it was just a bad dream." I slowly opened my eyes, not sure what I was going to see.

I was on my bed, drenched in sweat. Mom was in a nightshirt beside me, trying to calm me down. Uncle Jack was sitting on the bed opposite, rubbing his leg where I had kicked him, and was definitely not full of bullet holes. I looked over at the doorway, where Sam ran a hand through her hair and grinned at me. I must have woken everyone up when I screamed. But it had seemed so real!

"It was just a dream?" I asked, stunned.

"Yup, just a dream, kid," Uncle Jack agreed. Sam nodded, and Mom moved from brushing my hair to rubbing my back.

"But … but … it was so real!" I exclaimed.

"Dreams can be like that, Cass," Sam spoke from the doorframe. "They are our brain's way of working through stuff. Sometimes the images that it chooses to work with aren't the nicest though, and that's how we get nightmares." She came into the room and sat beside Uncle Jack across from me. "Did you want to talk about it?" She asked. I looked around at Mom and Uncle Jack, who tried in vain to stifle a yawn, and nodded. I did want to talk about it, but not with Mom and Uncle Jack around. I didn't know if I'd be able to explain it to them – better to bounce it off Sam first. She always had a way of making me feel safe instead of stupid while she explained stuff to me that I probably should have already known. I turned and hugged Mom with the biggest bear hug I could.

"I love you Mom," I whispered in her ear. "And I always will." She sat back and looked at me with a question in her face, but didn't say anything straight away – just looked at Sam and Uncle Jack.

"Me too, honey," she agreed. I nodded.

"Uncle Jack is tired," I stated.

"And sore…" he threw in as well. Mom just looked at me.

"So… you should take him back to bed." I finished the thought. Her eyes grew as big as saucers, and she started doing that fish thing where her mouth kept opening and closing, but no words were coming out. I could hear Sam stifle a chuckle beside Uncle Jack.

"Oh come on Mom, I'm not a baby. I know you two are, y'know, together. Disappearing for long walks while Sam distracts me with games, holding hands when you think I'm not looking, wearing the top half of Uncle Jack's matching PJ's?" At that she looked down and turned bright red. "I may be only 12," I continued, "but I'm not stupid. And it's cool, Mom, really, it is." She stopped gaping and looked over at Uncle Jack. I turned to face him.

"And as cool as you are Uncle Jack," I continued in a serious tone. His cheeky grin fell away and he looked at me very seriously.

"Yes Cass?"

"If you ever even so much as _think_ about hurting Mom, I will totally kick your ass. Even if you didn't mean it. And you can't use being a stupid boy as an excuse. Is that clear?" I dared him with my eyes to say anything to that. He sat up a bit straighter, and gave me a salute.

"Yes ma'am." He nodded, keeping a straight face. I looked back at Mom, who had started to absent-mindedly rub my back again.

"Shoo. I'll talk to Sam. And I _do_ love you Mom." I turned back to Uncle Jack. "I'm sorry I kicked you, Uncle Jack."

"That's okay kid – your mom'll kiss it and make it better. She's good at fixing me up like that." He grinned over my head at Mom. I could feel her turning even brighter red without even turning around. Uncle Jack got up, and put his hand down for Mom to grab.

"C'mon you, time to fix me up and put me back to bed – we have our orders." He stated.

"But…" Mom started. Jack stopped her.

"The girls here are gonna have some chin-wagging time. I may be tired, but even I got the hint that Cass doesn't want to talk about it with us around, so let's get going, woman!" He argued. Mom's face clouded over.

"Bad move, Uncle Jack…" I whispered under my breath. Sam leaned over.

"Don't worry about them, Cass. Your mom won't hurt him _that_ much." She grinned as the two of them argued their way quietly out of my bedroom and shut the door. "So, you want to tell me about this dream of yours? Or was that just an elaborate plot to let them know that you were onto them?"

I opened my mouth and shut it again, unsure of where to start. Sam came over the to bed and sat beside me. "It's okay, Cass." She put her arm around my shoulders. "If you want to talk, we can talk. If not, we can sit here and watch the stars out the window. Heck, we can even lie back down if you want," she added as I tried to stifle a yawn. I smiled tiredly at Sam.

"I'm sorry Sam, I guess I am pretty tired. But .. please don't leave me alone - I really don't want to be alone!" Sam smiled at me, and stifled her own yawn.

"Never, kiddo - even when I'm not physically here, you know I'm always thinking of you. But for tonight, how about you scootch over a bit, and we'll lie down and see if we can sleep some more," she suggested, lying down behind me. She put her arm around my waist and I could feel her breathing behind me. It was soothing, and I started to find myself relaxing again.

"Sam?" I started sleepily.

"Yeah Cass?" she asked.

"Thanks for being, y'know, you." I replied, unable to put my thoughts into words more accurately. Sam just squeezed me a bit tighter, and feeling safe, I drifted back off to sleep.


End file.
